Fan Building:

One of the first places we need to apply some new school ideas is to fan building. Quit looking at your fan count and start looking at the quality of your audience. We have seen dealers who have a couple hundred fans get higher click activity than another dealer with a couple thousand fans.  So, how do you interpret that data? It’s not just about the number of fans. It’s quality of fans over quantity of fans, and for an automotive dealer that means an in-market fan. So how does a dealer get just as many impressions and clicks with substantially less fans than the next dealer? It has to do with the viral effect of Social Media and the value of in-market fans. Start with local people clicking and reading on a post – and now with the new enhancements to Facebook you see what your friends are reading. If they are local, what are the chances that their friends are all local too?  Which also means local to the dealership, and hence more likely to view the content as relevant. A fan that lives 1000 miles away has a substantially diminished potential for sharing your content, and the true potential to maximize your social reach lies with friends of fans.

Posting Frequency:

A second new school practice has to do with posting frequency. Again, an old school mentality is to apply rules for other media (like email) for frequency of messaging. With email, sending more than once a week might be viewed as spamming, frequency must remain low to avoid unsubscribes, and some have transferred this mindset to social content frequency. When it comes down to impressions and click data, a lot of what is coming out in the industry is incorrect. They’re guessing. They’re talking about if I post seven times a day that I’m spamming my customers. The data doesn’t show that. In Social Media, the news moves so fast, that if you’re posting the same thing five or six times a day, people have likely only seen the post once in their feed.

An article that gets posted at 9 PM is already two pages down by 9 AM the next day. You have to post a lot so people can see it. Social Media is all about people having an updated stream of content. How disappointing is it when you login to Facebook, and haven’t been on in awhile,  and you still see the same content in your news feed as your last visit?  There’s nothing new. No one likes going into their feed and reading the same thing. It’s not spamming. Twitter moves even faster. For most users, an hour of tweets is a ridiculously long list. If you’re not posting every hour, you won’t be seen. The more followers you have, the more cluttered your feed. A single post can be a couple of pages down within an hour. What is the point of a social network if you don’t fill the feed?

Promotion on Social Media

A third new school tactic relates to promotion. People are told, “this is Social Media – you can’t sell here”. Then Automotive Dealers are thinking, if I don’t know what to sell, I don’t know what to say. However, studies have found that the number one reason people become fans of brands is to receive discounts and promotions. The number one thing people want you to do? Sell to them. They may ignore your promotions initially and not click on them right away, but they want them there so when they are ready to buy, they have them. The key is to have offers available for fans and followers on their terms, when they want them, and not to jam them down their throats only when you want them to buy.

What works best in Social Media is still an evolving concept, so a final tactic is a mainstay in all marketing – track and measure. Dealers need to have access to analytics for their social media efforts to monitor and measure what is working, what generates conversations, sharing, and ultimately, leads.

The Good Ol’ Days:
In the ’80′s and ’90′s, Before Internet,  the customer didn’t have Edmunds giving them an invoice on the vehicle. Dealerships operated with impunity and the power was with the Dealership: The Golden Era of Front End Gross.  The Brave New World of car sales has customers armed to the teeth with pricing, how to short circuit a 4-Square; it’s not “give me the invoice price” but “how much below invoice can I get the car”. If the customer wants to take the time he can agree to come in on one price and then shop the price at another dealer and then go back to the original dealer and so on and so forth. Eventually one of the dealers cries uncle and the remaining dealer has the opportunity to lose money selling a car.

There is No More Buffalo:
The days of plenty are over. The customer has the leverage and that leverage will drive front end gross ever lower; in fact most Internet Departments have negative front end gross. The manufacturers themselves are now using their profit to reimburse dealerships who make certain volume goals. And woe be unto you who is trying to sell the same car as a dealership that needs ten cars to meet its manufacturer’s volume bonus. Car buyers fantasize about a car at or below $10,000 and they will try to get invoice on that.

The New Market Place:
Cheer up. Buffalo meat had too much cholesterol anyway. It’s now about information and convenience. Customers can get about the same price at any dealer–Think Costco, AAA, etc. It’s now about convenience. We are told not to sell the car over the phone but if you were to ask the customer that is exactly what they want. The want to get and agree to a price and then come in to check their purchase and sign the papers. Simple and easy. And did I mention they don’t want any “surprises”. Those surprises are how a great many dealers make money, rightly or wrongly. Now there are new ways to make money; a dealership’s Finance Department should be its profit center. In fact the best salesmen are no longer on the floor or in the Internet Department they are in Finance.

Do Everything Before They Come In:
It’s time to sell convenience. Instead of four hours in the dealership try to make it one. Run credit, pick the car, and get the customer involved in the process. If the customer is involved in the process and feels comfortable then coming in should be the only commitment required. In terms of pricing that should be dictated by what the dealership needs in terms of volume but setting low, automated quotes is a good place to start. Shop the competition and always know where you stand. The profit is going to be in your pre-owned inventory. That’s not to say that you don’t sell convenience to pre-owned customers, not at all. The faster they leave the dealership the more gross you will hold.

Don’t Plan The Funeral:
The car business will always make money. It is still one person talking to another about  buying a car. Customers still get excited about cars–check out the people who went to the LA Car Show and tell me there is no enthusiasm in the car business. Selling cars is now about information and how selling leverages that information to make buying a car simple and easy.

We talk a lot about Social Media as a marketing platform.  One of the cheapest, most effective forms of marketing is called extraordinary customer service.  When you combine Social Media with customer service, you create an environment where customers want to share their story.

Social Media done right is like a supportive cocoon enveloping your customer during every stage of the sales process.  You serve your customer in ways they never expect.  You develop and manage long-term profitable relationships on a scale larger than ever before.  You create a personal connection with your customer throughout their life.  They emerge from their cocoon as butterflies, free to spread the good word.

Your employees are an integral part of your customer service process.  They’re on the front lines interacting with your customers every day.  You can mirror this in the online world.  With guidance in Social Media best practices, employees can be outstanding advocates for your store!

Social Media is a valuable resource to listen for sales opportunities.  When you spend the time and effort to build your online community, conversations arise that bear fruit.  Social allows you a glimpse at where each fan/follower is in their sales process. From the very top of the sales funnel (not necessarily interested in buying) to the bottom (ready to buy this weekend), you are privy to each person’s needs and wants.

Here’s how mastering Social Media can help you facilitate the sale from top to bottom:

Before the Sale

This is where Social content marketing is vital.  Ask yourself, “Who is my customer?” Once you know what they’re interested in, once you’ve defined where they live, what they like and how they buy, you write and publish content relevant to them.

Think about it locally.  What’s happening in your surrounding area that means something to your audience?  What problems can I solve?  This is how you strategize for the customer who’s either not ready to buy right now or is just beginning to research their next purchase. Once this customer becomes a fan, you can keep them engaged in conversation while they are in the market.  The added benefit to you is each fan/follower has a trusted network themselves.  In social situations, online and off, your fan/follower will only think of you when someone they know is ready to buy.

During the Sale

What a fantastic time to use Social Media!  Make sure your Community Manager acknowledges each sales transaction and creates content that engages your customer and your fans.  During the sales process, your salespeople get to know their customer very well.  Make sure they know how to spot the right opportunities during that process.

Take the time to find out which Social platforms the customers are on and ask them to become part of your network.  Video testimonials are awesome, give great Social proof to others, and can be recorded right there in the moment with a smartphone.  Are they a repeat customer?  Ask them what it was that brought them back.  Are they new?  Ask them why they chose your store. Social Media allows dealerships to interact with more people on a broader basis more regularly.  Use Social Media to communicate everything that’s great about the purchase process.

After the Sale

The period directly after a purchase is the best time to get your customer talking about it on Social Media.  Online ratings sites give them a megaphone to speak from. People spend huge sums of money on their vehicles so why not help them acknowledge what they’re spending so they can appreciate it even more!  Social gives your customer a way to tell others why they bought from you and what’s great about the car.  Help them recognize and respond to the experience they just had by providing the platform for them to speak.

And what better way to “stay in touch” than on Social Media!  Anywhere in the sales process, if you can stay connected, you increase your chances of top of mind awareness.  The more they hear from you, the less prompting they’ll need when it’s time to consider a purchase.

Dealerships and manufacturers have always made customer service a priority.  There are winners and losers in this race.  I know you want to win so take advantage of the power of Social Media to listen, converse, prospect, and sell.  No matter where your customer is in the sales process, whether you’ve sold to them or not, they’ll remember those conversations and come back to you every time.

Our minds are so warped in sales we fail & forget to see what type of online presence we are giving to the consumer. Regardless if you sell cars, shoes, cosmetics and so forth. We are the seller not the consumer. Don’t forget that you are giving the impression of your business to the online consumer which still relates to the good ole’ saying “First impressions are the best impressions”. Why fail your consumers now?

During my time training dealers for website best practices & their website management tool, I asked them when the last time it was since they last viewed their website. The top 3 answers were “I am too ashamed to look at it”, “I don’t have time” & “That is the Internet Managers Job”. I lightly tread on the subject to have all the management including  sales to take a few moments a day to review their website as errors can be noticed that are overlooked. Your team can offer the feel of presence & most important of all critical feedback. Don’t prevent them from being involved.

Before trainings I would ask all the attendees to take a moment to step back out of their sales shoes & visualize themselves as a customer, A TRUE CONSUMER and clear their minds of sales. Our minds are so polluted with sales & are soaked up with Buy Buy Buy & Look at me I can sell a car but you need to take a step back. Having this clear mind approach while stepping into a website review can be beneficial not to yourself but most important “YOUR CONSUMER”.

Typing in your website address is one step, seeing your online image is another and the most impressionable one. Relevant images related to your home page is similar to a new customer walking into your showroom floor & seeing polished tiled floors, shiny cars, clean desks, spiffed up sales team and such. Giving that same impression to your online consumer needs to be the same.

Your website home page is more geared towards new cars & welcoming the consumer to your website. Keep those website images (banners) relevant to that specific profit center! For example if you sell cars and there is a banner with bananas for sale, a little over the top & exaggerated, however you get the point. Used or Pre-Owned needs to stay relevant to the pre-owned department only not posting new car ads to that specific page. Consumers are geared to relevant information & images for what they are looking for.  Confusing them will cause you to lose them!  This goes to the same for Finance; keep it finance geared along with Specials, Service & Parts. Don’t push them away for sales, sales, sales! They have a motive in mind; don’t force them to shut your website down & move to your competitor.

Keeping your profit centers separate for advertising will be beneficial to your consumer when they are viewing your website & looking for what they are searching for.

Below are valuable tips to help increase your impression to be the best impression for your online consumer:

Home Page: New car banners. Amazing finance offerings for the new car purchase. Why they should buy from you including the incentives they receive. (Customer Satisfaction, Free oil chances with new purchase etc)

Pre-Owned Page: Banners of aged inventory, anything that is over 60 days old on the lot, highlighting those specific vehicles can help turn that inventory over for the pre-owned interested consumer.  Certified finance offerings and / or finance offerings for pre-owned.

Service / Parts & Accessories: Banners with Certified technicians, rewards received for customer satisfaction, discounts on service, parts or accessories.

Finance: Banners that shows offers given by the OEM or for pre-owned, you can even include local credit union finance rates that are being offered.  Easy process for credit applications (applying online) and special finance offerings.

Specials: Banners specifically highlight aged inventory for both new & used inventory to help push them out and off your lot. Service, parts and/or accessories discount pricing, finance rates.

Why Buy or About Us: This page should have banners relevant to why they should buy from you. Why buy banners, incentives of being a new customer, Rewards, images of facility with customers.

Take a step back to view your website as a consumer can make a large difference that you may not realize at this time. Get your team involved with providing feedback as each profit center is online!

All views & opinions are solely based upon the author only. Jennifer Schrader

“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” ~Mitch Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corp.

I’ve spent the last few weeks training a dealer group and their employees on Social Media content strategy.  It’s quite a leap for most employees as their job has never required them to consider how they want to be perceived by the buying public.  As a matter of fact, it gets overwhelming for most folks.  In this age of Social Business, it’s more important than ever to be a savvy content publisher.  It’s harder than ever to filter out all the noise to find what your brand and your audience is looking for.

It’s important that when people Google your business, you’re not the only one talking about it.  You do this by developing a process to foster “evangelists” for your store.  Good news!  You already have part of that in place through CSI and your front line personnel.  The next step is to utilize Social networks to get customers to talk for you!

Think Reputation Not Ranking.

How do you want to be known? What makes your store different in the market place?  Maybe you’re a legacy dealer who’s 4th generation.  Perhaps you’ve won the President’s Award for the last 6 years.  Those are examples of great achievements.  But how does your customer talk about you?  What do they say to their friends and family about their experience with you?  Achievements are always great but what matters more is a solid online reputation.

Think Connection Not Network.

Putting technology before strategy is quite dangerous.  There are a lot of cool tools out there to facilitate a better network.  However, you can’t skip planning, listening, education and go straight to engagement.  You’ll come up empty handed.  Automation is there to support your efforts, it’s not the guts of your campaigns.  No one will connect with you if you’re not real.  Human connections are what drive sales.

Think Loyalty Not Proclamation.

When you proclaim yourself the “biggest and best”, you better deliver on that promise because your claims mean nothing when customers have friends and family who’re telling them otherwise.  Find out who your loyal customers are and reward them.  Get them involved in telling your brand’s story.  Show the world how loyal customers are treated and you’ll have many more coming your way.

Now let’s talk about 3 key strategies to grease the wheels of those conversations.  We talk a lot about engagement in Social marketing.  What that all boils down to is providing super-interesting content on each platform where your customer spends their time.

Think Consistent Not Arbitrary. 

Is your content consistent with your brand?  Recently Coca-Cola did a very controversial guerrilla marketing campaign where they paid people to stencil Coke’s logo all around New Orleans during the Final Four.  Many questioned the sanity of a big brand defacing property in and around the historic French Quarter, especially when it was later revealed they didn’t even have permits to do it.  What’s disturbing for me is that the stunt wasn’t really consistent with Coke’s brand.  It sounds like something more consistent with Red Bull.  Your content is YOUR message.  Be consistent, be remarkable.

Think Assurance Not Panic.

Block Out Time.  Content curation takes time.  Anyone who’s had to create something knows that it has it’s own time schedule.  Devote a minimum of two hours per day to trolling for content.

Do Your Homework.  Spend time reading blogs on Social Media marketing and topics that are important to our industry.  Read blogs on subjects that interest your customer.  Add those blogs by RSS Feed to your Google Reader so you’ll have a treasure trove at your fingertips.  The time you spend now will ensure your success later on.

Think Smarter Not Harder.

Brainstorm with a Coach.  Marketing content creation should never be done alone, especially if you’re new.  The collaborative process with a content strategy coach works quicker and is more effective at reaching your sales goals.  An experienced Social Media content strategist will get you up to speed and on your way to self-sufficiency.

Reputation, connection and loyalty spurs conversations.  Be consistent, self-assured and smart in your Social Media content strategy.  Get people talking about you.  There’s no better way to the sale.

A) First let me say thanks for setting up this interview. It’s fun to talk Social Media, especially with car peeps just like me!

The first thing I do when a client has no Social Media presence is I ask them what their goals are for Social Media. Many times, the thought hasn’t crossed their mind because they’ve been so wrapped up in the idea that they have to be there.  Social Media is like any other marketing platform.  You always want to have a clear strategy before you spend your budget.

The very next thing you need to do is designate someone in the store who can be your “Community Manager”. You need someone who has marketing ability and knows (or can be trained to know) the Social space.  You can set up all the platforms you want but the real work is in what to post!  Great content is what drives engagement with your fans/followers and that takes time, effort and a budget. There is no magic bullet.

Successful Social Media also takes grassroots participation from the staff, especially the front-line personnel (sales people and service advisors).  They’re the ones who know your customer and you need an internal process for employees to follow to create relevant content (blog posts, Facebook updates, Tweets, Videos) and to capture those always-important online reviews.

Start with a solid foundation and you will not fail.

2. Q) Are there sites you think are better to get involved with than others? Facebook, Twitter, Four Square….

A)  For the answer to this, ask yourself where your customer is?  It used to be that everyone watched TV, listened to the radio or read the newspaper, so marketing and advertising dollars were spent there. Now, people are on Facebook more than they watch TV so Facebook is where dealers should be.

There are very specific strategies for each platform.  Twitter is a conversation-based medium: you can listen, engage, converse and network with current customers and potential buyers.  There’s lots of opportunity to learn new things there too!

Foursquare allows you to reward loyal customers who check in to your store. This is great for Fixed Ops.

Google Plus is a place to be, simply because Google is building an empire around search and social.  I’ve seen a lot of movement here in the past few months. It’s very different from Facebook, not as “Social”.  However, you should create a brand page and interact.  It will increase your online influence.

Depending on your goals, there are many strategic opportunities on all of these platforms.  If you’re new to Social Media, start slow and master one – Facebook.  Your participation will show you how today’s customer likes to interact with your business and that will help you to roll out to those other platforms.

Content is what drives all of these so once you’ve developed a winning process for content curation, you can apply that on each platform.

3. Q) Can you describe the services that your team can provide for clients?

A) Kruse Control does Social Media coaching and training.  Having managed stores all of my life, my experience in daily operations gives me a unique opportunity to give back to my industry.

I coach the Community Managers in dealerships on content strategy and blogging. I train dealership personnel on Social Media and Online Reputation Management either through Webinars or in-store.  I also speak and present to dealer associations around the US and Canada.

4. Q) What direction do you see the car business moving in the future in regards to social media?

A) I see the car business moving the way the customer demands.  People just don’t want to buy cars the way they used to.  They spend 11+ hours online researching their next purchase.  They talk to their friends and family to see where they bought or where they get their car serviced.  They look at online reviews.  Social Media facilitates those conversations—it’s word-of-mouth digitized.

I see dealership daily operations becoming much more cohesive.  At successful stores, each department will work in tandem with the other to communicate the store’s brand.  The new term or “buzz word” is Social Business.

Thanks to technology, the customer is connected now in ways they never were before.  It’s a full-circle shift! Before devices like the telephone, community members knew each other by name.  Merchants had long-term sales relationships with their customers because they had built up a trust inside that community.  Then, mass marketing entered the picture and it changed everything.  Social Media has brought us back to that time where community members prefer to buy from one another.  Trusted relationships mean more sales.  Dealers can develop those trusted relationships and build a Social community using platforms like Facebook.

Customers want to feel like they have shared values and perspectives with the businesses they buy from. If you can identify how you want your store to be perceived and send that message out through Social Media, you can capture visitors, build fans and generate leads.

Friending your Co-Workers is a great way to know more about them & their families. We learn so much about a Co-Worker during the day it is turning into a pure habit to friend them on Facebook, Twitter etc. Why not? You know a lot about them from talking & working with them during the day, it can’t hurt to friend them… Can it? This also falls upon the boss when either you or they decide to request a friend request.

Has this gone too far? Do we find ourselves more involved with our Co-Workers & Boss’s Social Life then our own?

I am guilty of taking just about every moment of my life and posting about it on Facebook & other social networks. I enjoy my life, my daily activities along with having no shame of sharing my fun, crazy & wild moments with my social friends, family & clients. There is an advantage of me being a freelancer. Many social buddies, family & friends know I live to have fun & go all out when doing so but at the same time keeping my work professional to ensure that quality comes with fun.

I don’t miss working in an office with management hanging over my shoulder & watching everything I do however with individuals that do need to be careful with posting crappy, moody or downright ridiculous comments, status updates & remarks on Social Media sites as they can come back and bite you in the behind!

Yes there are a handful of social media buddies that seem to be very angry most of the time & it reflects in their postings. You scratch your head & think “Wow, life can’t be that bad can it?” but when it is consistent you may have to remove them which can cause a Social Media Meltdown within an office or work environment. Trust me 99% of the time you will be approached by your Co-Worker or Boss & them asking you why? (DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS LOOK)…..! All you have to say is that you are getting away from social media or just having your close friends & family on social media. Work is separate from play!

Taking pre-cautions before hitting the accept button may be the best thing to do! Below are 5 tips to prevent from a Social Media Meltdown when friending your fellow Co-Workers or Boss!

SEPARATE PROFILE: creating a secondary profile for social media can be a great benefit for your professional career life. Limiting your co-workers & boss to see what you do after hours. Yes there are times when you like to kick back and have a few pints each night or kick it up a notch during the weekend but what does your boss think about that or your co-worker? Keeping a separate profile specifically dedicated to your day life during working hours can alleviate them from seeing your personal life as much as possible.

DENY REQUEST: yes this can be hard to swallow to deny request from your co-worker and /or boss however explaining to them you are not comfortable with accepting their request as your life outside work is personal or you only use social media for your family & close friends.  If you explain with sincerity they will understand. Another option you can take advantage with Facebook & it’s latest & greatest feature is unsubscribe from them within your news feed. This can be helpful when you are dealing with a Co-Worker that is consistently posting every 15 minutes about how life sucks & such.

LIMIT POSTING: when you have accepted the friend request from your Co-Worker or Boss, limit your postings during the day. If they see you posting every ½ hour they will wonder if you are actually working at all. Limit the posting to 3 times during the day; 1 post before work, 1 during lunch & 1 after work. Doing so will prevent them thinking about your work ethics along with your dedication to your work, not just socializing during working hours digitally.

AVOID CONFLICTS: by all means avoid any and all conflicts! If you see your Co-Worker posting negative post about fellow Co-Workers or your boss…. AVOID IT! If you comment or even get involved with the comment thread regardless it can come back and bite you! If your Boss or fellow Co-Worker approaches you about it, simply reply “I haven’t had the time to see it”… This response can prevent you from getting questioned even more about conflict that is happening between them.

BE CONSIDERATE WHEN POSTING: being involved with your Co-Workers social life let alone your boss, be considerate when posting to their status updates. Everyone has a bad day however many nowadays run right to social media to vent out. Being sympathetic to their frustrations can be a benefit to you as you are trying to help them through their negative mood and alleviate them from posting further negative remarks, bad mood status updates etc.  When management sees you trying to help your Co-Workers work through an issue you can be a rock star in their eyes and being positive over a negative post.  Being helpful & considerate can be helpful. Don’t post “GET OVER IT” etc this can stir a pot of SOCIAL MEDIA MELTDOWN!

Taking these 5 tips can help with preventing a Social Media Meltdown within a working environment & prevent you from getting involved with personal issues a Co-Worker or Boss may be having. You hear enough of it during the day by being with them.

What is your opinion about friending your fellow Co-Worker or Boss? Have you had great success or has it cost you your job?

All views & opinions are solely based upon the author only Jennifer Schrader

What was that? Did you just say that was stupid David? I agree, it is stupid. Stupid because the phone is needed for business, the phone is needed to make sales. I can make the same claim with the internet, with Facebook and Twitter, with LinkedIn and blogging. If used the right way, if used with a specific plan of action, it can be used to develop leads, it can be used to create sales. Why then are you blocking these sites from company computers?

Again, what was that? Oh, you can’t trust them to work, you’ve caught them playing on Facebook one too many times so you had your IT department block certain sites? Who do these salespeople work for…

I’ve had this conversation with Craig Lockerd, CEO of Automotive Recruiting and Training, and he told me that it’s important to inspect what you expect. That if you, from the very beginning, tell your salespeople what you expect from them, train them the right way, and then continue to develop them that you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

I agree! They do work for you don’t they? Sure, they’re going to be a few that don’t get it. That don’t understand that through the use of social technologies you can create a powerful brand that will influence both word of mouth and customer loyalty. Yes, they can implement an inbound marketing plan, one that pulls people in, one that will equal incremental sales for your dealership, why aren’t you teaching them how to do it?

Prospecting pioneer Fran Taylor, CEO of Taylor Techniques, goes into great detail on how a salesperson can use specific prospecting tools to really drive sales and referrals. Social network ssuch as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others are other such tools. Tools that can be used to showcase the authority of your salespeople and make them the obvious choice in your market. Of course, they must be used the right way. So, stop making excuses for your salespeople. Stop saying they won’t get it or they will abuse the freedom. Teach them, show them, create a specific plan of action that will get results.

A Few Examples

Facebook is a great way to connect with your customers. I’ve created a video about it, I’ve been kicking around the idea of redoing it, but the information is spot on. You can watch it HERE. I’m fond of saying that in order to create a life-long customer, you must go past the transaction to create the type of relationships that influence word-of-mouth and customer loyalty. Facebook is a great way to do just that, make sure that you watch the video, I go into detail about what I mean here.

LinkedIn is a great network to connect with the movers and shakers in your community. It’s a great tool that can be used to connect with people of influence. People that can and will send you referrals if you go about it the right way. That is, don’t connect just to connect. Aim for quality over quantity. Make sure that you click on the link in the first sentence of this paragraph for a specific plan of action.

Twitter, while most people don’t get it, can be used to connect with people very easily. It’s easy to find locals to connect with, just check outTwellowHood. From there it doesn’t take a ton of time to build connections and get to know people, but more importantly getting people to  know you.

I can go on and on, there are a lot of different things that can be done with the current state of social technologies, but you have to work it smart. You have to have a plan. I suggest setting aside specific times that your salespeople should be focusing on their social marketing plan. Also, you should appoint a specific person to keep an eye on things to ensure that your salespeople are on track.

Lets say that you have 8 salespeople and that each one sells an average of two units a month from their inbound marketing plan, would an extra 16 unites work for you? I’m sure it would, but remember, train, train, train!

During the brief demonstration I watched, I initially didn’t understand the mission of the site, or rather, why it would drive consumer eyeballs. I learned that you needed to “apply for admission” which could take weeks, or you could find another Pinterest user and have them invite you. Just like learning about every other social network, you’ll never truly understand it until you immerse yourself (which is what I did). While I was figuring out the value proposition Pinterest offered, I also showed the site to my wife and her sister. Their instant addiction caused me to embark on a journey to find out more about this site, and potentially how it might help my customers (you, the car dealer).

If you visit the site, you will notice that the majority of content relates to food, home decorating, crafts and child-related ideas. I took a stab at creating a man’s version of the site, including my interests in cool cars, vintage guitars and outdoor barbecuing. I was pleasantly surprised that when I searched for related “pins” and “boards,” I found there were many others with similar interests.

Pinterest is all about pictures, not so much about words. When you find an interesting picture on the web, you “pin” the picture and it is attached to your profile. You can also have “boards,” which are subject-related collections of pins. I have boards for “Cool Cars,” “Vintage Guitars,” etc. Every time I find a picture of a cool car, I “pin” the picture and put in on the “Cool Cars” Board. You can also “re-pin” someone else’s pin, which propagates that content across the web. You can also simply “like” someone else’s pin, which just shows you liked it, but didn’t feel compelled to re-pin it.

Since a major component of a dealer’s social marketing strategy should be to build a social network, and join in on the conversations, I would think a progressive dealer would start a profile for their store, and simply “pin” new or used car photos for special or unique items. You might also “pin” pictures of cool aftermarket or OEM accessories, perhaps alone or as part of a customer’s vehicle. You should be careful not to be too self-promoting, or you will be unlikely to attract many followers. Instead, only show the very new, or very special, models or products, and simply try to create interest. Creativity attracts interest on the site, by adding unique titles and high-quality photographs; you can increase the traffic to your profile. Be forewarned, Pinterest has rules where they discourage overt self-promotion, and you wouldn’t want to start your experience getting blacklisted.

You could also search the site for related “pins” for makes/models that you carry, and “re-pin” those items and maybe add a comment with your thoughts. Again, don’t add a comment that could be in any way considered self-promoting, but instead add an interesting fact about the benefits of the car’s make/model. You should also begin “following” other Pinners with similar interests, or anyone who starts following you. Like all social media sights, networking is key. Another idea would be to use your knowledge and statistics about the users on the site, and gear some of your boards to them. For example, since the majority of Pinterest users are women, create boards that appeal to women and direct them back to your profile to increase views of your boards.

You could create a board for your local community with pinned pictures of your community involvement like the Little League teams you’ve sponsored, and your passion for your community surroundings. You could create a board with pictures of cool home garages, pictures of interesting driving destinations, or even pictures of vehicle interior customizations. Once again, creativity is key on this site.

The goal is to create boards that reflect the personality and culture of the dealership, and the interests of the owner. As in all social marketing programs, you are trying to personally connect, in many cases one-on-one with other people with similar interests. If they feel a personal connection with you, they may eventually decide to become your customer, since people like doing business with friends.

I’ll admit, it took me a while to get my hands wrapped around this new site, but the growth stats are incredible. Effective digital marketing strategy promotes your business where people are spending their time online, so Pinterest definitely fits the bill. This site will force you to be a little more creative, and a little more subdued in your approach, but the exposure and payoff in the long run should be worth it. Chances are most dealers will read this article and move on, so your opportunity to be an early entrant could give you a nice head start.

Check out our Pinterest board at: www.pinterest.com/Dominionds

Good luck, and please let me know how I can help.

To differentiate your dealership, take the next step in building your Google Places presence. By adding and updating features that build a recommendation engine for your dealership, potential customers can feel connected and knowledgeable about their choice when shopping for a vehicle or service.

Encourage satisfied customers to add reviews to your Google Places page.
Consumers look to friends and family for recommendations and reviews, but they’re also increasingly adopting online reviews from “people like me” when making purchase decisions.

Although it’s not a proven science, some say that reviews on Google Places and reviews from third-party review sites such as Yelp and CitySearch can help increase the ranking of a Google Places page. Customer campaigns are a good way to jumpstart online reviews; however, be sure to have some consistency so an onslaught of reviews doesn’t look like spam to the search engine.

Add content to Place Page Posts.

Similar to Facebook updates or email newsletters, Place Page Posts on Google Plus are a quick and easy way to provide updates to customers and potential customers viewing your profile.

Page Posts are limited to 160 characters and can be used to share updates or specials with customers and can include links back to your website. Only one post is allowed at a time, so when you write a new post, it overwrites the previous one. Unlike Facebook updates, customers do not have the ability to comment.

Add offers and coupons to attract new customers.

Adding an offer to your Google Places listing allows customers to print and bring an offer to your dealership. Adding a coupon on Places is free. Dealerships can add the feature through the Google Places login, which includes a few lines of text, an expiration date and which locations accept the offer. The dealership then uploads a photo of the offer, which users can click through to print.

For example, dealerships can offer an oil change or other service coupon that can drive repeat business and bring in new customers.

Very few dealerships reach 100 percent of their completed profiles on Google Places. When a dealership can clearly show the customer experience through a site such as Google Places, consideration and click-throughs can increase, as well as higher placements in search results.